Free Land in Nebraska!

Remember the Homestead Act of 1862? I don’t blame you if you don’t as it was merely a blip in my American history classes, but here’s the gist: the government gave away free land in Nebraska to get people to move out there. Yes, the government had to give shit away to get people to move out there.

It sounded like a good idea to a lot of people who had been wanting to start farms of their own. You’d get up to 160 acres and you’d grow a ton of food and have cows and whatever. The thing was, Nebraska doesn’t have the world’s most fertile soil. It’s not like Tennessee or the Ohio Valley. If you’ve read anything by Willa Cather then you know what’s up.

Well, get ready for the Homestead Act Part 2! Are you a sucker for sequels? Then check this out! The city of Beatrice is giving away free land to people who promise to live on it! According to the New York Times, they’re tired of just sitting on this land, mowing it and building ballfields on it and shit, and they want to make tax dollars off of it.

Beatrice, Nebraska isn’t the only city in America doing something like this. My dad’s hometown of Dayton, Ohio is giving away land or selling it for next to nothing in hopes of cutting down the mowing bill. In other words, if you’ve ever wanted to move to a dying city in Ohio, now’s your time! One thing I will say about Dayton is that they have good pizza and a really cool park/museum that has a Wright Flyer. Also, it’s pretty close to Wapakoneta, a little city with a real moon rock.

So there it is. Get it while the getting’s good! You can go to Nebraska and get some flat, less than fertile land, or you can go to a dying city that’s the real birthplace of aviation (and Guided by Voices). Uhh…tempting as that is I think I’ll stay in Nashville for now, thanks.

Emily (Founder/Editor in Chief) : Emily is a graduate from Belmont University, where she majored in Music Business. She’s originally from rural Ohio, where there are many cows, a river, and one vineyard. Though she moved to Seattle in 2015, Emily maintains a love of both Nashville and free things, and is actively looking for contributors for NashvilleForFree.com. If you're interested, reach out to her at emily@nashvilleforfree.com.